Zuccotti Park on October 18.   (Photo: Matthew Pillsbury)

From the occupation on September 17 of an obscure park in lower Manhattan came new “Occupys” in more than 950 cities in 82 countries. A conversation that had gone nowhere for decades was finally, suddenly, engaged; the phrase “income inequality” made the jump from policy papers to the kitchen table (or at least the Internet: 11.6 million Google results since Day One, a fourfold increase over the rest of the year). And it all began amid this squalor: The drum circle may now be silent, but Zuccotti Park’s boom was heard around the world.